News Archive - Progress Newsletter Spring 2002 Online

Emotional Caring

Emotional needs vary among cancer patients as
they travel through the different phases of their cancer journey.
Patients may experience times of no or low distress, moderate
distress or extreme distress. Some patients may remain at
one level while others fluctuate between levels. Just as emotional
needs vary, the type of emotional care offered also must vary.

At the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center,
the Psycho-Oncology Program strives to meet these needs. The
program currently offers a variety of supportive/
educational groups for patients experiencing the lower
end of the stress scale and individual psychotherapy sessions
for patients experiencing extreme distress and anxiety. After
extensive planning and research, the Psycho-Oncology Program
is starting to roll out therapy groups for patients in the
moderate range of distress.

Beginning this spring, a pilot therapy group
for patients with a diagnosis of primary breast cancer will
be offered. Women who have recently completed treatment 
lumpectomy, mastectomy, chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy
 may be referred to the therapy group by their health
care provider. The group will meet weekly for 90 minutes over
an eight-week period and will be limited to 10 members.

Each week the therapy group will be focused on a certain
area, and we will bring educational materials and exercises
to address the specific topic, explains Jane Deering,
M.S.W., clinical social worker, Cancer Center groups coordinator
and co-facilitator of the pilot breast cancer therapy group.
Topics to be addressed include learning new coping skills,
relationships with family and friends, sense of self, and
finding a new normal.

Lori Reece, a 41-year-old breast cancer survivor, is looking
forward to joining this new pilot breast therapy group that
will focus on post-treatment issues. One thing that
I realized after finishing my treatment is that people dont
understand that it is not over in terms of my feeling safe.
I will always have that feeling, and it is emotionally hard.
You feel like you are helpless and cant do anything.
At least when you are going through treatment you feel like
you are fighting back, says Ms. Reece.

The supportive/educational groups that are currently
available at the Cancer Center follow a more open design than
the new therapy groups. The supportive groups typically have
open membership that changes over time and meet once a month
with an informal open discussion format.

Current groups are set up according to cancer
type or age range (e.g. Melanoma Support Group, Young Adults
with Cancer Support Group). This leaves many people without
a group to attend. It is the hope of the Psycho-Oncology Program
that, in time, they will be offering programs for everyone.

The vision is that there will be a mix according to
diagnosis and also according to a particular need, explains
Claire Weiner, M.S.W., adult clinical social worker, Department
of Psychiatry, and co-facilitator of the pilot breast cancer
therapy group. We are discussing groups focusing on
male cancers, parenthood and cancer, and for women with metastatic
cancers. The groups will be in various formats depending on
needs.

I think it could be very helpful to focus groups on
issues, says Carol Adams, seven-year breast cancer survivor
and member of the current Breast Cancer Monthly Support Group.
My current group has been a tremendous help to me, but
its difficult for me to talk about my recurrence. If
you havent had a recurrence, you are just praying that
you wont get one. I know in the past it was hard for
me to hear about people who had had recurrences; it scares
you. A group focused on metastatic disease would give people
like me a chance to talk a little more easily and openly about
what really concerns us.

All the groups will offer a place where people can feel
safe and know that what they say will remain confidential,
says Weiner. The groups will be a place where they can
express their worst fears that they maybe cannot express anywhere
else. They will learn that there wont be anyone else
in the group who hasnt had similar thoughts.

The Psycho-Oncology Program is a new cooperative
effort between the Cancer Center, the Department of Psychiatry
and the Department of Social Work. Kathy Wade, M.S.W., director,
Social Work, has played a major role in the creation of this
program.

Karen Hammelef, R.N., M.S., director, Cancer Center Patient
Support Services, has been a key organizer of the effort.
Joseph Himle, Ph.D., assistant clinical professor, Department
of Psychiatry, will be leading a research study to determine
if these short-term therapy groups will reduce levels of anxiety
and improve social functioning in comparison to care without
group therapy support.

A main goal of the Psycho-Oncology Program is to provide the
framework to deliver emotional care to patients and families
dealing with cancer throughout their experience. For more
information on the programs offered, please call 1-877-408-7377 (PFSS).

Patients will do better by getting help
from one another, in a group experience facilitated by a welltrained
therapist. We hope to be able to offer group therapy to all
patients who would benefit from it, as well as for family
members. Michelle Riba, M.D., director, U-M Psycho-Oncology
Program.